
BOBBY LYNX 






































Class Q L 7 . 3 5 

Book .La W o 

PRESKNTEI) l!Y 















Leaped to a big, hollow log lying half-buried in the 

deep sn ov/. Page 99. 















THE ROUND-TOP BOOKS 


BOBBY LYNX 

OF 

ROUND-TOP 

ttw>' % B y ) 

"ELLEN D. WANGNER 



ILLUSTRATIONS BY 

HENRY WANGNER 


NEW YORK 

THE NOURSE COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 

IUI 




Copyright, 1931, 
bv 

THE NOURSE COMPANY 


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JUI» W 13 ?? 


PREFACE 


In telling the story of Bobby Lynx of 
Round-Top, I have tried to give a clear 
picture of the actual life of a lynx and 
the real dangers that beset his pathway. 
If it seems hard to have Bobby Lynx try 
to catch Mollie Rabbit, we must remem¬ 
ber that he is not being just unkind and 
cruel but that he is only doing exactly 
what Mother Nature has taught him to 
do. When he kills a partridge or has a 
fierce fight with the Stranger Lynx, again 
he is only obeying Nature’s laws. 

Mother Nature has very wonderful 

laws and, though they may seem hard and 

cruel to us, yet, when we understand 

them, we will see how good, how very 

good they are. If nothing ever ate up 

3 


4 


PREFACE 


the rabbits, there would soon be so many 
of them that Round-Top could not hold 
them all and they would have to swarm 
down on The Plain and, very soon, they 
would need still more room and they 
would eat up all the growing things! 
And this is true of the field-mice or the 
bears, the porcupines or the woodchucks. 
Now,—do you see how wise Mother Na¬ 
ture is? 

.When you stop and realize that all na¬ 
ture is just a vast workshop, where even 
the stones and the rocks are working every 
day and where all the animals and the 

plants and the trees and rivers and the 

* 

ice and the rains and the snows are work¬ 
ing—working—working—and that this 
work never stops, day or night, then you 
will understand why there must be many, 
many laws to keep this mighty workroom 
in good, running order. 

And I can make no kinder wish for you„ 



PREFACE 


5 


readers, big and little, than to hope that 
you will some day learn to know this big 
workroom of the Out-of-doors and under¬ 
stand the many wonderful things going 
on there. 


The Author. 













CONTENTS 


I. 

Mother Lynx Gets Her Break¬ 
fast . 

9 

11. 

Bobby and Tommy Have Their 
First Lesson Outdoors . 

19 

III. 

We at Happened to the Timber 
Wolf. 

30 

IY. 

Bobby's First Adventure . 

46 

Y. 

How Bobby- and Tommy Learned 
the Man-Smell 

58 

YI. 

Bobby’s Fight With the Stran¬ 
ger Lynx. 

69 

YII. 

The Enemy Bobby Could Not 
Conquer . 

83 

YIII. 

The Worst Night in Bobby’s 
Life • ••••• 

95 


t 





Bobby Lynx of Round-Top 


CHAPTER I 

MOTHER LYNX GETS HER BREAKFAST 

Mother Lynx padded softly down the 
dim forest paths at the bottom of old 
Round-Top Hill. It was early morning 
and, as Mrs. Rabbit peeped out from the 
hollow ’neath the tall spruce tree to see 
whether she might safely scamper out for 
some young, tender roots, she caught sight 
of Mrs. Lynx. Mrs. Rabbit softly and 
noiselessly pushed back into her burrow 
with its warm nest at the end. There she 
carefully looked her four babies over, her 
poor, little heart going pit-a-pat for fear 
one of them might have disobeyed her and 


10 BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 


stolen out of the little rabbit home and 
into the path of Mrs. Lynx. The babies 
were all safely asleep and Mrs. Rabbit, as 
softly as a bit of thistledown, crept back 
to the opening of her house and peeked 
out among the tangled roots of the spruce. 

Mrs. Lynx was still pad-padding 
along, her head held high as she sniffed 
the soft spring winds blowing down old 
Round-Top’s rocky slopes. There were 
delicious odors of swelling buds and open¬ 
ing wild flowers,—warm, soft, moist 
smells from the marsh at the foot of the 
hill. But Mrs. Lynx didn’t care for these 
smells at all. Her stiff, black whiskers 
moved this way and that as her nose 
twitched up and down, seeking for the 
particular smell she wanted,—rabbit or 
young birds or even a squirrel. Most any¬ 
thing would do for breakfast, for she had 
not been able all night to find even a tiny 
field-mouse and, as the sun crept over the 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 11 


tree-tops, she slowly turned around to pad 
back to her den. There would be no 
breakfast this morning. 

Mollie Rabbit’s whiskers twitched 
nervously as she watched. Of all the 
creatures of the Hill, she feared Mrs. 
Lynx and her family most of all and she 
scampered for joy in the hollow spruce 
as she saw Mrs. Lynx turn back along 
the grey rocks, at the foot of which were 
the springs and marsh that marked the 
beginning of the Long Pond. 

As Mrs. Lynx crept over the rocks, 
Mollie Rabbit shuddered as she noted the 
thick, stocky legs with their cruel claws 
and the squat, chunky body that was just 
a bundle of steel muscles hidden beneath 
the shaggy coat of grey fur. Mrs. Lynx 
turned around for one last look and Mollie 
Rabbit ‘ 6 froze ” as she saw Mrs. Lynx’s 
face with its very wicked-looking set of 
teeth and the heavy, grizzled whiskers on 




12 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 

the sides of her head and the tassels of 
stiff, dark hairs that tufted her ears! 

Mother Lynx was very thin, for the 
winter had been a hard one. The cold 
had been very severe and there had been 
many storms that had piled the snow in 
high, white drifts along the foot of the 
Hill and filled the plain with an even car¬ 
pet of white, many feet thick. Food had 
been hard to get. Never had there been a 
worse winter for the little Forest-people 
on Round-Top and many and many a 
night had Mrs. Lynx hunted without 
getting one bite to eat! The partridges 
that she loved so well, buried themselves 
so deep down in the snow that she could 
not find them and the rabbits staved in 
their snug, warm burrows, nibbling at 
such roots as they could get without ven¬ 
turing out into the deep drifts. 

There had been tracks of plenty of deer 
down in the Alder Swamp but, somehow. 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 13 


Mother Lynx could not get even one. 
She would lie stretched out on the arm of 
a beech tree, her grey fur matching the 
bark so perfectly that she was almost in¬ 
visible and there she would watch, hoping 
that some deer would come down the 
snowy runway beneath her. Although 
Mrs. Lynx knew that she was getting old, 
she was so hungry that she would not 
have been afraid to attack even a cross, 
old buck had she been so fortunate as to 
see one. 

All of these long days and nights of 
hunger had made her very thin and very, 
very cross and ugly and oh,—how she 
wished she could have some breakfast this 
nice spring morning! And then, the soft 
winds blowing down the hillside brought 
a sound so close to her that she instantly 
flattened out against the rock,—so flat, in¬ 
deed, that she looked like a part of it. 
Down she crouched, every muscle tense, 



14 BOBBY LYNX OP BOUND-TOP 


—ready for a spring. Her short, stubby 
tail twitched ever so slightly and her big 
grey-green eyes seemed to turn black as 
she intently watched a fallen tree at the 
foot of the rock. There was a short 
scuffle in a drift of snow that the warm, 
spring sun had not yet melted and then 
she saw a slim grey-brown animal drawing 
a plump partridge from beneath the log. 
Over the drift he dragged her to a flat 
piece of rock right beneath Mrs. Lynx. 
It was a weasel,—as Mrs. Lynx knew 
well. 

Now,—all the Forest-people hated 
Jimmy Weasel. All the field-mice and 
the young birds and the rabbits and the 
squirrels,—oh, how they hated him! And 
well they might, for he was sly and tricky 
and cruel. He could creep down into the 
most carefully hidden rabbit burrow and 
catch a dear, soft baby rabbit before Mrs. 
Rabbit could do one thing to defend her 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 15 


little family. He could crawl into Mrs. 
Grey Squirrel’s house and capture her 
babies or even herself before she could as 
much as squeak. Mrs. Woodchuck feared 
him, even more than she did Mrs. Lynx 
because Mother Lynx could not squeeze 
down into the winding hallways of her 
home and that was something Jimmy 
Weasel just loved to do and did do many 
times. A nice, fat baby woodchuck 
pleased Jimmy Weasel very much indeed. 
And the poor, little field-mice just 
squeaked and squealed with terror when 
they saw his horrid, green eyes peering 
into their carefully hidden house in the 
warm, soft ground! Jimmy seemed to 
love to tease and torment the poor field- 
mice. He would kill as many as he could 
of the family and then scatter their care¬ 
fully gathered stores of nuts and seeds as 
if he delighted in being just as mean as 
he knew how to be! None of the smaller 



16 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


animals or the birds ever felt safe from 
him for he could go in all the nicely dug 
out tunnels, climb all the trees and he 
could even swim if he needed to, so you 
can see that the little Forest-people had 
cause to hate and fear him. 

Even Mother Lynx didn’t care for him, 
—he had such wicked little eyes and he 
could viciously bite even her tough old 
paws with those sharp teeth of his. Be¬ 
sides,—she didn’t like the taste of him 
very well. But he was better than no 
breakfast at all and that fat partridge 
would make a delicious breakfast for her 
two kittens. 

As Mollie Rabbit saw Mrs. Lynx flat¬ 
ten out on the rock, she knew what it 

i 

meant,—Mother Lynx had seen or 
smelled something that meant breakfast! 
Now Mrs. Rabbit was a very wise mother 
rabbit at most times, but a very foolish 
one at other times and, just now, she was 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 17 


going to be very foolish, indeed! For she 
was so curious,—so very curious, in fact, 
to see what Mother Lynx was after that 
she crept noiselessly out of the front door 
of the Spruce Tree House and hopped up 
the hill, where she could look down and 
see what it was that Mrs. Lynx was watch¬ 
ing. Mollie Rabbit’s little heart was beat¬ 
ing fast with fear, but her curiosity just 
urged her to hop along until she sat by 
an old pine stump right above the hollow 
where Jimmy Weasel was getting ready 
to have his breakfast. If Mrs. Lynx had 
not been so busily engaged watching 
Jimmy and the partridge, she would 
sureiy have seen foolish Mollie, and if she 
had,—poor, silly, little Mother Rabbit 
could never have reached her burrow be¬ 
fore Mrs. Lynx would have had her. For 
Mother Lynx preferred rabbit for break¬ 
fast to even a fat partridge. 

But Mollie had hopped along so quietly 



18 BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 


and was so exactly the color of the pine 
stump and Mother Lynx was so busily 
engaged in watching Jimmy that she did 
not see her at all. And then,—Mollie 
Rabbit gave a tiny squeak, for Mrs. Lynx 
sprang. It was truly a beautiful sight to 
see her,—one instant each muscle in her 
body seemed to coil tightly like a spring 
and then, they just shot her out over the 
rocks, free and clear, a graceful ball of 
grey fur that dropped like a flash right on 
Jimmy Weasel. 



CHAPTER II 


BOBBY AND TOMMY HAVE THEIR FIRST 
LESSON OUTDOORS 

Mother Rabbit ran back to her bur¬ 
row as fast as her soft, brown paws could 
carry her, first gathering a mouthful of 
delicious budding twigs for her little fam¬ 
ily. The rabbit babies were all safe and 
sound and Mother Rabbit sat right down 
to tell them of the awful things she had 
seen and to warn them never, never to go 
out from the Spruce Tree House without 
her. Mollie and all the babies were glad 
that Jimmy Weasel was gone,—only,— 
they knew that Jimmy had many, many 
dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles 
and nephews and nieces and brothers and 
sisters, so,—sad to say,—they would have 

to be just as careful as ever! 

19 


20 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


The sun was shining right into the play¬ 
room in the roots of the spruce, now, so 
Mother Rabbit took them for their first 
trip up there. Oh,—how big the world 
looked as they peered out from among 
the spruce tree roots and how smelly the 
wind was and oh!—how much, how very 
much they would have to learn before they 
could go with Mother Rabbit frisking 
about on the hillside! The wind was 
bringing a new smell, now, to their 
wriggly, little noses,—a smell that they 
did not quite like,—a smell of Mrs. Lynx 
eating up Jimmy Weasel, and, as Mother 
Rabbit told them never, never to forget 
that smell, their little noses wriggled very 
nervously and they crept very hurriedly 
down into their safe little burrow. They 
had had enough of the big world for that 
day! 

Mrs. Lynx felt very much better, now. 
The hunger-ache in her stomach was 



BOBBY LYKX OF KOUND-TOP 21 


nearly gone,—an ache she had felt very 
often all that terrible winter, especially 
after Father Lynx had gone hunting one 
cold night and had never returned. Fa¬ 
ther Lynx had been a great hunter and 
even when she failed to find anything to 
eat, he would be sure to bring back some¬ 
thing to the den for them both. All of 
the animals on Round-Top had been 
afraid of Father Lynx. Not one of them 
could beat him in a fight and they all knew 
it and let him alone! Many a bit of food 
had been hastily left by Renny Fox and 
Jimmy Weasel’s family when they had 
heard the piercing cry of either Father or 
Mother Lynx echo through the forest on 
those cold, winter nights! And Father 
and Mother Lynx had greedily grabbed 
at the choice morsels abandoned by Renny 
and Jimmy. But, after Father Lynx had 
gone,—the cold became keener and keener 
and the drifts and snow deeper and deeper 



22 BOBBY LYNX OF EOUND-TOP 


until few animals dared to venture out 
and Mother Lynx began to think that she 
was left all alone in the forest. She had 
been very happy when, at last, old Winter 
began to take his snow-drifts and icicles 
away with him and the warm sun came 
again, for, now, she had two kittens in her 
den to get food for. So, after she had 
eased some of her own hunger-ache that 
morning with Jimmy Weasel, she carried 
the fat partridge into her house for 
Bobby-cat Lynx and his brother Tommy- 
cat. 

Now,—Bobby’s and Tommy’s house 
was a truly wonderful place, so wisely 
chosen and so carefully hidden by Mrs. 
Lynx, that you would have walked right 
by it and never have seen it! For Bobby’s 
and Tommy’s house was in a big hollow 
tree right in front of a huge pile of rocks 
that looked as if they had fallen heels over 
head down Bound-Top Hill and had 




Bobby’s house was in a big, hollow tree, in front of a 
huge pile of rocks. Page 22. 









BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 23 


landed close to a marshy spot in a tangled 
thicket. The back door of the house 
opened right into a big cave formed by 
the rocks as they snuggled back against 
the mountainside as if they were trying to 
keep out of the marshy, alder swamp that 
grew right up to the Hollow Tree on the 
other side. In the big pine trunk was the 
warmest kind of a nest and, if danger 
should come, all they had to do was to leap 
right out into the rocky cavern and climb 
and clamber up and out of a well-hidden 
hole in the heart of the tangled thicket. 
It was a fine back door and Mrs. Lynx 
was very proud of her home. And,—oh, 
how proud she was of Bobby and Tommy, 
—who were two of the finest kittens that 
ever lived! At least,—Mother Lynx 
thought so as she watched them snarling 
and growling over their partridge break¬ 
fast. When nothing was left but a pile 
of feathers, Mrs. Lynx washed them care- 



24 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


fully with her rough, red tongue, smooth¬ 
ing down their soft baby fur until they 
grew quite drowsy. Then they all curled 
up in the Hollow Tree House while the 
rising sun grew warmer and warmer until 
the little house was as hot as even a little 
cat wants it to be when he takes his nap. 
Even Mrs. Lynx took a long, long sleep 
for she was very tired after her long trips 
for food and the sun was shining on the 
other side of the tree when, at last, she 
yawned and stretched out her paws,—first 
one and then another, opening and closing 
her sharp claws. Then she rose and 
Bobby and Tommy knew that their rest 
time was over. As they stood on their 
short, thick legs, their paws looked much 
too large for them and they bumped and 
wobbled around the Hollow Tree House 
very much like two little tabby-cats when 
they are first learning to walk. Their tails 
were very short and stubby and their little 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 25 


ears looked very funny with their tiny 
tufts of stiff hairs at the top. 

Bobby’s and Tommy’s eyes had been 
opened now for quite a while, they were 
getting very much steadier on their legs 
and, as Mother Lynx watched them leap 
and play in the Hollow Tree House and 
saw how they could roll each other over 
and over and how strongly they could 
push against her,—she decided that it was 
about time to give them their first out¬ 
door lesson. So ,—very cautiously, she led 
them out of the house to the warm hill¬ 
side where the tangled birch thicket safely 
screened them in on all sides. Bobby and 
Tommy slunk along very close to their 
mother. Oh, how many curious sounds 
there were,—and what peculiar smells and 
how cold the earth felt beneath their soft 
paws,—not like the floor in the Hollow 
Tree House at all and,—oh,—how big,— 
how very big the mountain was! Bobby; 



26 BOBBY LYNX OF EOUND-TOP 


blinked and blinked as he tried to look way 
up to the top of the Hollow Tree. Never, 
—never could he climb to the top as 
Mother Lynx had told him he would some 
day. 

As a red squirrel ran chattering angrily 
along a big branch and leaped lightly 
across a wide space to a hickory tree,— 
Bobby grew quite dizzy. Never could he 
do anything like that! In fact,—he just 
was not going to try! Bobby was scared, 
as sacred as any kitten you ever saw! He 
forgot how big and strong he had felt in 
the Hollow Tree House when he had 
rolled Tommy over,—forgot his sharp 
claws of which he had been so proud and 
he just snuggled up beside his mother’s 
warm, shaggy coat and cried! 

“ Meow! Meow! ” he wailed, just like a 
frightened tabby-cat. And then, Tommy 
became scared, and he cried, too, and oh! 
how cross Mother Lynx was! And right 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 27 


then and there she gave them one of the * 
most important lessons a little Bobby-cat 
can learn,—that at all times in the forest 
a little cat must keep perfectly still and 
not make the slightest sound! She cuffed 
Tommy’s ears with her heavy paws and 
she rolled Bobby over and bit him,—not 
too hard, but quite hard enough, in his 
furry neck! Bobby and Tommy learned 
their lesson very well and when Sally Red 
Squirrel, up in the hickory, chattered and 
scolded at them, they sat perfectly still 
and looked fierce just like their mother. 
And only their wiggling noses and twitch¬ 
ing little whiskers told that they were 
really hot brave and fierce at all, but just 
two very badly scared little cats! There 
were so many, many noises to startle a 
poor, little cat,—water dripped, dripped 
somewhere near by,—limbs of trees 
rustled and rattled as the wind brushed 
them against each other, sticks and twigs 



28 BOBBY LYNX OP ROUND-TOP 


dropped from the trees as the birds and 
squirrels darted about and a little dry leaf, 
on one of the small birch trees, flapped and 
snapped until it was very hard work for 
Bobby to keep from crying out loud 
again. 

The world wasn’t at all the place it had 
looked to be from the snug Hollow Tree 
House and Bobby and Tommy were very 
glad when their mother told them that 
lesson-time was over and took them home 
again. Even the big cave, that had always 
looked as if it were such an attractive 
place, did not interest them at all and they 
were very glad to snuggle down in the 
warm Tree House and go to sleep just as 
their mother told them to do. 

Mother Lynx purred them to sleep with 
a song that they were learning very well 
indeed. Every night they had to sing it 
with her, but to-night they were so very 
tired,—she just sang it all by herself: 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 29 


“Night is the time for hunting and eating ; 

Day is the time for resting and sleeping. ” 

And then Mother Lynx told them to lie 
perfectly still all night while she went out 
to try to find them something good to eat 
for their breakfast. Mother Lynx was 
really very much pleased with her day’s 
work. Surely her kittens were very smart 
and it was really wonderful the way they 
had learned the Keep-Quiet Rule. She 
was especially proud of Bobby, for he had 
walked home on his stubby legs as cau¬ 
tiously as a mother cat could expect him 
to. Tommy was very bright, too, but he 
had made an awful noise, Mother Lynx 
thought, as he had slipped and slid and 
rolled when the dry sticks got under his 
clumsy little feet. However,—they had 
done very well and Mother Lynx gave 
them each a final lick with her warm 
tongue before she started out on her 
nightly hunt. 



CHAPTER III 


WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TIMBER WOLF 

The sun had sunk down below the crest 
of old Round-Top and down by the Hol¬ 
low Tree House, long dark shadows crept 
along the hillside. The air was warm and 
Mother Lynx felt sure that the forest 
paths would be filled with the little forest- 
dwellers, glad to leave their burrows and 
come out to frisk and dance and play in 
the warm, spring night. From the marsh 
came the soft trillings of the frogs as they 
seemed to say,—“ Sleep—sleep—go to 
sleep! ” And the reply from the naughty, 
young frogs,—“ No sleep! No sleep! 
No sleep!” Every once in a while, a 
cross, grumpy, old grandfather frog 

would say in his deep voice,—“ Ker- 

30 


BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 31 


cluing! Go—to—bed!” From every 
little hummock in the marsh came these 
chirpings,—so many hundreds of them 
trilling and singing, that it seemed as if 
there were millions of little bells tink¬ 
ling. 

Mrs. Lynx listened and a soft, purry 
rumble crept up in her throat. She didn’t 
like frogs very well,—they were really not 
very good to eat,—but their singing and 
trilling were very soothing to her. Besides, 
—they made such an echoing, jingling 
noise that even the quickest-eared fox or 

rabbit would not be able to hear her as 

% 

she slipped through the shadows. She felt 
sure that she was going to be able to get a 
wonderful meal for herself and to bring 
home a delicious breakfast for Bobby and 
Tommy. Now,—Renny Fox and Jimmy 
Weasel were thinking the same thing and 
poor Mrs. Woodmouse and Mollie Rabbit 
were very much alarmed. Mollie Rabbit 







32 BOBBY LYNX OF EOTJND-TOP 


tucked her babies into their warm nest and 
then sat down and nibbled some birch 

v 

buds very thoughtfully. 

Now, as we have said once before,— 
Mollie Rabbit was a very wise little 
mother but even her wisdom could not 
make her quite understand the plans of 
old Mother Nature very well. She really 
felt that it must be quite all right for 
Jimmy Weasel’s family to eat up the field- 
mice and groundhogs because these same 
field-mice and groundhogs ate up just the 
roots and clovers that she needed for her¬ 
self and her own little family. Of course, 
—Mollie wouldn’t actually wish to have 

Mrs. Lynx or Renny Fox or the Weasels 

/ 

eat up a field-mouse or a groundhog! 
She never, never would wish for such a 
thing as that but,—if old Mother Nature 
had made these animals want to eat mice 
and red squirrels and grey squirrels and 
groundhogs, why,—Mollie felt,—it was 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 33 


probably all right because it just had to 
be. Besides,—that arrangement left lots 
of delicious roots and clover for Mollie’s 
family and her very numerous relatives on 
Round-Top. What she couldn’t under¬ 
stand was why anything should be willing 
to or want to eat up a rabbit! That 
was the hard puzzle that Mollie had 
to solve. She could not understand 
that Mrs. Lynx was not being merely 
cruel when she sprang on a plump 
rabbit or a partridge. Poor Mollie 
could not see that Mother Nature had 
given the Lynx family and the Foxes and 
the Weasels their natures and tastes and 
that, after all, Mother Lynx was only do¬ 
ing just as Nature told her to do when she 
went hunting. So,—little Mrs. Rabbit 
gave up trying to solve the puzzle and 
went out and had a glorious dance in the 
woodland path, snatching a delicious root 
here and a bud there and, altogether, 

i 




34 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


having a fine time. But,—just as she was 
beginning to feel a bit tired and ready to 
go home, what should she see, right in the 
path behind her, but two glowing eyes that 
looked like coals of fire! Mrs. Lynx was 
also in the woodland path that night! 

For just one instant, Mollie “ froze ” 
and pretended to play dead and then she 
realized that would not save her this time. 
Nothing but her brave little heart, pound¬ 
ing so furiously with fear and her stout 
little legs, could possibly help her in this 
moment of terrible danger and, with one 
mighty bound, she bobbed away down the 
path, just as Mrs. Lynx sprang. The 
cruel paws with their long claws missed 
Mollie by the merest tip of her white tail 
and Mollie bobbed and bounced down the 
path, leaping this way and that to avoid 
the dreadful fate that she felt was behind 
her. As she darted toward the little Tree 
House that had never seemed to her quite 



BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 35 


so safe and snug and greatly-to-be-desired 
as now, two other gleaming eyes peered 
at her from behind the Hollow Spruce 
that she had believed so safe! It was 
Renny Fox who was also hunting rabbit 
and who had seen poor, frightened Mollie 
dashing down the hillside. Quick as a 
flash, she turned, almost facing Mrs. 
Lynx, poised for another spring and, just 
as the grey cat shot toward her, Mollie 
dived, head first, into the carefully hidden 
back-door of her burrow, escaping the 
sharp claws by just one squeak. 

Mother Lynx screeched with anger. 
The hunger-ache was very hard to bear 
once more. One weasel was very little 
food for a mother-cat who had two kittens! 
And she had been so sure, so very sure of 
getting this foolish, fat, little rabbit, that 
she screamed and wailed in her anger and 
disappointment. There was no animal on 
Round-Top nor in all the Big Forest that 



36 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


could give so piercing and wild a cry as 
could Mrs. Lynx! 

Renny Fox, as he heard it, slid behind 
the Hollow Spruce and slunk away in the 
friendly darkness,—the bristles standing 
up on his neck with terror as Mother 
Lynx gave a long, piercing scream that 
got lower and lower until it sounded like 
a sob and a moan, only to rise again,— 
higher and higher into a shriek that made 
Renny’s legs tremble in terror as he gal¬ 
loped across the Plains. 

As Mollie Rabbit heard it, she cuddled 
tightly in the nest with her babies,—re¬ 
solving never, never, never to go more 
than a foot away from her front door 
again! Of course,—she would forget all 
about that by the next night, but just now, 
she wouldn’t have left her burrow for all 
the juicy roots on Round-Top. At the 
front door of her house on the hillside, 
Mrs. Woodchuck felt the stiff hairs of her 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 37 


neck rise and bristle as the wild cry of the 
Lynx reached her and she scurried back 
into her house. She would not seek for 
any roots that night,—daylight would do 
well enough for her! 

Most all the little Forest-people on 
Round-Top shivered and shook as they lis¬ 
tened to Mrs. Lynx shrieking and scream¬ 
ing with rage,—all except the Black 
Bear, who lived at the top of the mountain 
and who wasn’t afraid of anything and the 
Porcupine family who knew that if Mrs. 
Lynx said anything to them , they would 
fill her nose and paws and mouth so full 
of sharp, pointed quills, that she would be 
glad enough to let them go! Jack Skunk 
and Mrs. Jack didn’t mind very much, 
either. They had a weapon to defend 
themselves with that even a Lynx respects. 
All the baby skunks, however, just whim¬ 
pered with fear and fright and it was not 
until Mother Skunk came in and cuddled 



38 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


up beside them that they could go to sleep 
again. 

For a long, long time Mrs. Lynx 
screamed and screeched, acting very much 
like a bad little boy who has been sent up¬ 
stairs to his room for being naughty and 
who cries and yells just with rage! That 
was just the way this big cat cried and 
yelled. Then, like the little boy usually 
does, she got tired of it. Crawling up a 
beech tree, she crept out on a big limb and 
lay there, listening and smelling,—her 
ears twitching at every sound, her whisk¬ 
ers moving as the soft night-wind 
brought the sweet odors of the forest to 

her. 

» 

For a long time she lay stretched out on 
the beech-limb,—so quiet, that a grey 
shape that came stealthily creeping along 
never suspected that she was there at all. 
It was a gaunt, grey timber-wolf,—the 
first one seen on Round-Top for a long 



BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 39 


time. Mother Lynx did not know it,— 
but food had been just as scarce for the 
wolves way back in the mountains as for 
the little Forest-folk on Round-Top. So 
hungry had they grown that small bands 
of them had crept down onto the Plains, 
hiding in the woods along the Long Pond, 

venturing out occasionally to catch some 

% 

stray sheep or cow near the scattered set¬ 
tlements at the far end of the valley. 
Always cowardly when travelling alone, 
the wolf hunts in packs when he goes out 
for food, and Mother Lynx scarcely 
moved a whisker as she watched the wolf 
steal slowly and cautiously down the path. 

Almost at any moment she expected to 
see another and yet another of these grey 
shapes glide along, so she kept perfectly 
still, as well she knew that even her pow¬ 
erful claws and teeth would avail her noth¬ 
ing against a whole pack. But this wolf 
was all alone. Separated from his pack, 



40 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


the most of which had either been shot or 
trapped by the settlers, he was carefully 
making his way back to the well-known 
trails of his own mountain. No call did 
he give,—well he knew that he was alone 
and in a strange place. Danger lurked 
on every side; his only safety lay in steal¬ 
ing along as stealthily as he could and 
passing the crest of the hill before the sun 
should catch him. 

He sniffed eagerly as he caught the 
scent of deer on the night-wind. Even a 
lone wolf might dare attack a deer. He 
threw his head up and sniffed long and 
carefully and then,—before he could give 
a cry or one jump,—a grey ball of biting, 
tearing claws and steel muscles and rip¬ 
ping, cruel teeth, dropped on him from 
the beech-limb! It was a delicious meal 
that Mother Lynx had,—the first real 
breakfast in more time than she liked to 
think of and she crept home perfectly 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 41 


/ 

happy, carrying a big, juicy bone with her 
for the kittens. 

How Bobby and Tommy growled over 
that bone,—tossing it up in the air,—pre¬ 
tending that it was alive, leaping and 
jumping on it when it came down,— 
catching it with fierce snarls and yelps as 
it hit the sides of Hollow Tree House and 
bounced at them! All this pleased Mother 
Lynx very much indeed,—so much so that 
she determined, after their nap, to take 
them out on the hill again to see what new 
lessons she could teach them. They were 
growing so rapidly, now, that she knew 
their playtime was about over and their 
lessons must begin in earnest. So,—that 
afternoon when she heard a fight begin¬ 
ning between a bad Red Squirrel-boy and 
Mrs. Grey Squirrel, she cautiously led the 
kittens out through the cave and into the 
tangled thicket. Something might hap¬ 
pen so that she could give the little cats 



42 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


their first lesson in hunting, and, sure 
enough,—something did happen! When 
that bad, sly, cruel Red Squirrel-boy 
darted right by Mother Grey Squirrel to¬ 
ward her nest where she had her hoard of 
nuts for her babies, she chattered in fear 
and anger. Now, everyone knows that 
the red squirrels are bad, bad, cruel rob¬ 
bers, but no one knew it quite so well as 
did Mother Grey Squirrel, whose hoard 
he was constantly robbing. So, when 
Robber Red darted toward the nest, 
Mother Grey chased him and, quicker 
than a flash, she bit him fiercely in the 
back leg and, with all her might, threw 
him off the branch right down into the 
tangled thicket! Bobby and Tommy 
jumped in fear as the red squirrel came 
hurtling down through the bushes. Mrs. 
Lynx, however, had seen what was hap¬ 
pening up in the beech tree and, as Rob¬ 
ber Red fell, she struck with her strong 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUXD-TOP 43 


right paw, every claw out. The kittens 
sprang up in excitement as they saw their 
mother give a graceful leap and strike the 
bad squirrel almost before he hit the 
ground. Never again would that robber- 
squirrel steal birds’ eggs nor rob Mrs. 
Grey Squirel and oh, — how good he 
tasted to Bobby and Tommy. 

After all,—the big woods were quite 
interesting, they decided, and when Mrs. 
Lynx showed them how to climb and they 
found that their claws could stick into the 
tree like spikes,—they climbed up and up 
and up—until Bobby looked down and 
grew dizzy with fear. Then his brave lit¬ 
tle legs trembled in terror and he cried! 
But wise old Mother Lynx just let him 
cry and cry until he realized that if he 
were ever to get down at all,—he would 
just have to manage it all by himself. 
So,—slipping and sliding, hanging on 
frantically every few inches and crying,— 



44 BO BBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 

then sliding some more, — he finally 
reached the ground. And then Bobby 
showed that he was really growing up,— 
for he caught Jimmy Weasel’s bad little 
brother as he was scurrying recklessly 
through the thicket after a little field- 
mouse. Bobby wouldn’t even let Tommy 
share in his meal, but growled angrily at 
him and even struck at his mother! 

Bobby was truly growing up indeed. 
Mrs. Lynx was very proud of him and she 
washed both him and Tommy very care¬ 
fully as she tucked them up in the Hollow 
Tree House. And now, indeed, did they 
give their mother a surprise, for they 
hopped right out again as soon as she had 
tucked them in and they scampered back 
into the thicket to climb and play some 
more. So, out Mother Lynx went and 
scampered with them,—boxing and play¬ 
ing with them, encouraging them to crawl 
up the trees after her,—wrestling with 




They scampered back into the thicket to climb and 
play some more. Page 44. 
















BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 45 


them until they were almost too tired to 
go to bed, but showing their mother very 
plainly that they had learned their lessons 
very well and would soon be able to take 
care of themselves. 



CHAPTER IV 

bobby’s first adventure 

Mother Lynn had not been gone very 
long when Bobby woke up. A shaft of 
moonlight had peered right down through 
the dancing, new leaves and the branches 
of the trees into the Hollow Tree House 
and had peeped right into Bobby’s face. 
Tommy was sound asleep,—so Bobby 
playfully cuffed him with his paw. Out¬ 
side the Hollow Tree House, the world 
looked like gold as the moonlight bathed 
the mountain in its soft beams. Bobby 
cuffed Tommy some more and rolled him 
over,—but Tommy was too tired and 
sleepy to do more than stretch and yawn 
and then go back to sleep again. 

But Bobby was wide awake; the excite- 

46 


BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 47 


ment of the afternoon, all the tree-climb¬ 
ing and catching the little Weasel-boy had 
just filled him full of mischief and he was 
ready for play. But he wanted a play¬ 
fellow! What was the use of sleeping 
when so much fun could be had? He 
sprang on Tommy and bit him in his soft, 
furry neck and caught his short, stubby 
tail in his teeth and rolled him around un¬ 
til sleepy, little Tommy grew very cross 
and waked up long enough to bite and 
growl back. Then they both peered out 
into the lovely spring night. But just 
peeking out was not enough for Bobby,— 
he felt very venturesome and grown up. 
He could see the very tree he had climbed 
that afternoon and it didn’t look high at 
all in the moonlight! And its trunk 
looked like soft, brown velvet where his 
sharp claws could safely hold on and 
everything did look so tempting that 
Bobby put out one little paw on the soft, 



48 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


warm ground and then another. And, in 
a moment, he was out of the Hollow Tree 
House and coaxing Tommy to come out 
for a scamper. But Tommy only curled 
up by the opening in the tree and, after 
watching Bobby very interestedly for a 
moment or two, he cuddled down in a 
soft, little ball and was soon sound asleep. 

Now,—Bobby knew he was disobeying 
all the rules his mother had taught him so 
carefully, but he only intended to play 
just a moment and then scamper back to 
bed. The moonlight made big shadows 
that danced and played in the gentle 
spring wind and Bobby made big leaps at 

them, pretending to catch them. And 

then, acting as if he were badly fright¬ 
ened, he would dash madly back to the 
Hollow Tree, only to cautiously glide 
through the thicket again and pounce on 
another shadow. Little by little, farther 
and farther, his venturesome dashes car- 



BOBBY LYNX OP BOUND-TOP 49 


ried him until he was at the very edge of 
the thicket! And there Long Pond shim¬ 
mered and silvered in the moonlight. 
Bobby stood on a big rock and looked at 
it. He had never seen this before, and all 
the curiosity of his little cat nature made 
him want to get a little closer and see 
what it was. 

Every little while he would pretend to 
be scared and dash back into the thicket, 
but,—there was the Hollow Tree House 
safe and sound, and out he would come 
again to watch and puzzle over this long, 
shimmering thing in the moonlight. 
Down below him, some new, silvery aspen 
leaves twinkled and fluttered in the spring 
wind and Bobby went a few steps down 
the bank to strike at them with his soft, 
little paws. A stone rolled down the hill¬ 
side and, in a flash, he was after it and, al¬ 
most before he knew it, his feet sank in 
the marsh at the bottom of the hill. It 



50 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


was a treacherous place that all of the ani¬ 
mals kept away from until the hot sum¬ 
mer sun had dried it up, but naughty 
Bobby didn’t know that and he pulled his 
front feet out, only to find that his back 
legs were sinking deep in the ooze and 
water. A big bullfrog near by said “ Ker- 
chung ! ” so loudly that Bobby whim¬ 
pered with fear. And then, giving a hard 
pull, he leaped out of the sticky, muddy 
marsh and landed on a thick hummock 
that held him up. Bobby was badly 
frightened! He would have cried long 
and loud but he was afraid to! 

He leaped to another grassy tuft, then 
to another and another and soon he was on 
dry ground again, but where,—oh, where 
was the Hollow Tree House! Bobby 
was sure he knew,—it was back over the 
edge of the hill,—he was sure of that,— 
but, how could he ever get there? The 
wind brought him so many queer smells 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND TOP 61 


that his poor, little nose could not stop 
wiggling one moment! He started to 
creep along the hillside, only to cower 
down in a scared little ball as a twig 
snapped under his feet with a sharp crack! 
Little stones and pebbles rolled down the 
hill as he walked! His tufted ears 
strained to catch every sound and the 
dancing aspen leaves did not seem pretty 
at all now! They seemed glad because he 
was scared! 

Poor Bobby cringed and cowered 
along, trying to move cautiously as his 
mother had tried to teach him to do, but, 
there were so many queer sounds and 
smells that, at times, he was too fright¬ 
ened to move at all and just cowered 
down as close to the ground as he could. 
A big pine tree drooped its heavy, green 
branches just ahead of him so close to the 
ground, that it looked like a big green 
tent, and he was afraid of it,—terribly 



52 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


afraid! How could a little cat know 
what might be under those big, dark 
boughs or just waiting around them ready 
to pounce? But pass it he must, so,—he 
cautiously slid toward it, hoping to pass it 
safely and get back once more to the dear 
Hollow Tree House. Step by step he 
went as carefully as a little cat could, and 
then,—just as he was almost by it,—there 
was a sudden terrifying rush of wings, a 
sharp sting in his forehead as powerful 
claws tried vainly to clutch him and an 
awful voice seemed to shout right in his 
ears,—“ To-whoo-oo! ” 

It was a huge owl that had been sud¬ 
denly frightened out of her hiding-place 
in the big pine. But poor Bobby did not 
know what it was and, with a loud cry of 
fear, he dashed for safety in under the 
big branches and then climbed up the tree 
as fast as he could. And there he clung, 
in a crotch of the tree, too frightened to 




BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 53 


move! He was afraid this awful thing 
might be waiting for him just beyond 
those big branches. Bobby’s legs were 
trembling so that he kept slipping and 
sliding and his eyes watched this way and 
that as the big branches tossed in the wind 
and he could see the brightly lighted hill¬ 
side. 

Once, he saw a queer little animal go 
sniffling-snuffling along and his eyes grew 
big as he watched. What it was he didn’t 
know, but he surely would like to pounce 
on it! It was a very fortunate thing for 
Bobby that he was not able to do so, as it 
was Mrs. Porcupine and she would have 
filled his little nose and paws and even his 
mouth so full of sharp, pointed quills, 
that he would never have wanted to touch 
her again! But Bobby did not know this 
and he watched her very eagerly as long 
as he could see her. Then he began to give 
faint little “ meows ” way down in his 



54 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


throat, for oh!—how scared he was and 
how he wanted to see his mother! 

Underneath the tree he heard a scuffling 
in the pine needles as some wood-mice 
scampered about, but Bobby was not in¬ 
terested in them at all! The ground 
looked terribly far away,—too far for 
him ever to try to climb down again! A 
rabbit bounced up the mountainside in 
the moonlight, now growing fainter and 
fainter, but he wasn’t at all interested in 
rabbits, either. All he thought of was 
his aching little legs. He did not dare to 
crawl out on a limb and lie down,—he 
just clung tightly to the trunk in the 
crotch of the tree and hung on with every 
little muscle aching and aching. And,— 
how sleepy he was! What would he not 
give to be safely cuddled up in the Hol¬ 
low Tree House with Tommy and that 
big, soft, furry creature,—his mother! 

He could stand it no longer! Forget- 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 55 


ting all about the Keep-Quiet Rule,—he 
meowed and meowed so fast that it 
sounded like one long howl! The little 
wood-mice, at the foot of the tree, ran for 
their lives and the rabbits, playing on the 
hillside, bounced for home as fast as they 
could go! Louder and louder Bobby 
wailed,—opening his little pink mouth as 
wide as he knew how and letting out one 
frightened yowl after another. Mother 
Lynx was hunting way up on the top of 
the mountain when, suddenly, her quick 
ears caught the sound of a cry. She 
wheeled and gave a snarl! Again she lis¬ 
tened and then, a grey streak, she shot 
down the mountainside, pausing to listen 
as the sounds grew louder and closer. 
Her eyes gleamed with anger as she 
bounded to the Hollow Tree House and 
leaped in. Tommy was sound asleep and 
she at once began to wash him with her 
warm, red tongue. She had not yet 



56 BOBBY LYNX OP ROUND-TOP 


missed Bobby. Then she stopped wash¬ 
ing Tommy and listened. In an instant 
she bounded out of the house and crept 
along the hillside. 

The moon was gone now and the forest 
was dark and silent, save for the yells 
coming from the pine tree. They were 
growing fainter and fainter. Poor 
Bobby was just ready to give up when 
something crashed through the lower 
branches and a deep, throaty purr-rrh 
came to him. In another moment his 
mother was washing his face and purring 
over him. Quickly leaping to the ground, 
she called and purred until Bobby felt 
brave enough to try to get down and, 
slipping and sliding, he finally managed 
it. He was a very quiet little cat as he 
padded along by his mother, answering 
her soft purrs with faint, baby purrings. 
When they reached the Hollow Tree 
Bobby was so very tired he could just 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 57 


manage to crawl in. He was a very 
happy little Bobby-cat as he snuggled 
down beside his mother and went to sleep 
while she washed and washed and washed 
his aching body and trembling legs. 
Bobby had had his first great adventure 
and, fortunately for him, it had ended 
happily. 



CHAPTER V 


HOW BOBBY AND TOMMY LEARNED THE 

MAN-SMELL 

But Bobby soon forgot his fright and 
his and Tommy’s muscles grew stronger 
every day and their baby fears were 
nearly all gone, now. They had learned 
to crawl out on the big beech limb and lie 
there fearlessly and as quiet as mice. 
They could climb the tallest trees; they 
knew all the forest smells and could tell, 
just as well and surely as could Mrs. 
Lynx herself, when the wind spelled rab¬ 
bit or a weasel! One smell they had not 
learned,-—the smell of their most terrible 
enemy,— man ! And this smell they were 
to learn one night and never, never would 
they forget it as long as they lived! 

It was one lovely night when all the 

58 


BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 59 


leaves were out on the trees and the bees 
had hummed all day around the wild 
honey-suckle bushes that made the hill¬ 
sides pink with their delicate blossoms 
and filled the air so full of delicious 
smells, that it was difficult at times to find 
the other smells that it carried and which 
the kittens,—large, strong cats by this 
time, wanted to know. Mrs. Lynx had 
taken the two cats that night on a long, 
hard climb over the roughest rocks and 
most tangled thickets on Round-Top, 
leading them, finally, across the Ridge 
that bordered the Plains on the far side, 
giving them many lessons in noiseless 

climbing and hunting that she felt they 

# 

might need some day. She had gone so 
far that the first bright streaks of the 
summer dawn were tinting the sky as they 
stole back along the Ridge. And then, 
just as she crept out on a big rock that 
overlooked the farms in the lower part of 



60 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


the valley, Bobby saw her suddenly 
stiffen and begin to draw back each foot 
as slowly and cautiously as she knew how. 
Right on a rock, across a little ravine, was 
the most dreaded enemy of all the wild 
things,—a man! As the wind shifted, 
Bobby and Tommy both caught this new 
smell and the bristles on their necks rose 
in terror,—here was something new and 
fearful and they stood stiff and rigid as 
they saw their mother trying to crawl 
back from the big rock unseen. Quick as 
she had been, the hunter was even quicker 
and, just as she had almost reached the 
shelter of the overhanging vines, came a 
roar that seemed the worst,—the very 
worst noise that Bobby and Tommy had 
ever heard in all their lives! It was a 
gun and the sound echoed and reechoed 
among the rocks until it seemed to the 
poor little cats that the noise would never 
cease! And, then,—oh,—what had hap- 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 61 , 


pened to their mother! She lay perfectly 
still in the tangled thicket* a wide, red 
gash across her forehead! 

Bobby and Tommy no longer felt that 
they were big, brave cats,—they were 
lonely and scared and they wanted,—oh, 
how they wanted their mother! The 
echoes of the gun, though fainter and far 
off now, made them feel as if this mysteri¬ 
ous enemy were all about them. The 
man-smell and the smell of the gun was 
the very worst scent they had ever known. 
Tommy whimpered and Bobby began to 
wash his dear mother’s face with his warm, 
little tongue, making soft, purry sounds 
in his throat and shaking her with his 
paws. She lay very still and Bobby was 
just ready to give a cry of fear and loneli¬ 
ness when a shiver seemed to pass through 
the grey, shaggy body he loved so well 
and she opened her eyes. She was a little 
dazed at first and then, as she smelled the 



62 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


smoke and man-smell, she leaped to her 
feet. Well did she know the danger of 
staying there one moment and, with an 
angry snarl to Bobby and Tommy, she 
leaped back into the forest, bounding and 
leaping as if her very life depended on 
her speed, as indeed it did. For the man 
had jumped across the ravine and was 
coming up the rocky mountainside as 
fast as he could scramble. He felt sure 
that he had hit Mother Lynx, and, al¬ 
though her coat would not be worth very 
much in the summer, as it was short and 
thin, nevertheless he wanted to get it. So 
he climbed up the steep, rocky face of the 
Ridge as fast as he could. His gun was 
reloaded and had Mother Lynx not real¬ 
ized her great danger and raced away as 
fast as she knew how, that would have 
been the end of her and poor Bobby and 
Tommy as well. As the gash on her head 
pained and smarted, Mrs. Lynx gave 



BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 63 


short, angry purrs and Bobby and 
Tommy, close at her heels, answered with 
frightened, little snarls that told her they 
were safely bounding along behind her. 

Not until they reached old Round-Top 
did she pause for a breath and then only 
for an instant to see if the hunter were 
still coming. Fortunately for her and the 
little cats, the hunter had given up the 
chase long before, as well he knew he 
could not possibly keep up with three 
leaping, bounding, frightened lynx flee¬ 
ing for their lives! Quietly, Mrs. Lynx 
led her children to the safe cavern where 
they all stretched out. The Hollow Tree 
House had become too small for them 
long ago and they now lived in the cave, 
the stone floor of which was dry and soft 
with its bed of dead leaves. 

Mother Lynx closed her eyes as she lay 
down on the floor of the cave and, again, 
Bobby licked the red gash made in her 




64 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


head by the hunter. Fortunately for 
Mother Lynx, the bullet had torn only 
the skin and while it was painful, yet she 
would be all right in a few days. But 
there was no breakfast that morning, nor 
did they leave their safe cave that night to 
go out and hunt! Mother Lynx’s head 
pained almost more than she could bear 
and every little while, she would get up 
and pace back and forth in the den, giving 
short yelps of pain, while poor Bobby and 
Tommy crouched in the corner, too 
frightened and worried to move. Never, 
never would they forget that terrible ex¬ 
perience which had taught them the man- 
smell! Bobby felt as if he never would 
care to hunt or play on the hillside again, 
nor climb another tree, nor do anything 
but hide in the cave and neither he nor 
Tommy believed that the ache would ever 
get out of their poor, tired legs. But it 
did and the gash healed up so nicely in 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 66 


Mother Lynx’s forehead, that you would 
never have known that she had been hurt 
at all, and so it wasn’t very long before 
they were all climbing and hunting and 
frolicking in the tangled thicket just the 
same as ever. 

No,—not quite the same. Things soon 
began to change. Bobby and Tommy 
did not play together in quite the friendly 
way they once did when they were very 
little cats. Tommy was very quarrel¬ 
some and many a real fight did he and 
Bobby have in the cave that seemed to 
be getting too warm and stuffy in the 
heat. Bobby began to wish that he could 
live all alone in the cave,—all by himself. 
He didn’t like to have his mother always 
calling him and purring over him. He 
grew quite cross about it and, strange 
to say, his mother grew cross, too. Some¬ 
times, when he and Tommy were only 
trying to play with her, she would turn 



66 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


on them with a snarl and strike at them. 
Several times she struck with her claws 
half out and then, poor Bobby and 
Tommy would each cry with anger. So 
when,—one midsummer night, as all the 
Hill was a golden shimmer in the moon¬ 
light and when the moccasin plants had 
covered the hillsides with their pink and 
yellow slippers, Mrs. Lynx went hunting 
and never came back,—Bobby didn’t care 
a very great deal. The first day or two 
he cried a lot and felt very lonely and 
both he and Tommy did not dare to leave 
the cave. But, after a real fight with 
Tommy, he felt better about things and 
went out all by himself and had a delicious 
supper on top of the Hill. 

And so the summer passed and again, 
it was the Moon of the Falling Leaves, 
when Jack Frost paints the tips of the 
sumachs and maples and hickory trees all 
sorts of gay colors with his silvery paint 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 67 


brush. Bobby and Tommy began to shed 
their thin, scraggly, summer coats and 
put on beautiful winter suits of soft grey 
with dark trimmings along their legs and 
backbones. Bobby’s coat was especially 
fine and both had long, thick hair along 
their sides and flanks to keep them warm 
when their hunting trips led them through 
light, fluffy snow. Both Bobby and 
Tommy had paws so big and broad that 
they acted just like snowshoes when there 
was a partial crust on the snow. 

About this time, Tommy grew very 
restless in the cave and he was a very 
quarrelsome little cat indeed. If Bobby 
wished to curl up in the Hollow Tree 
House, Tommy decided that he did, too, 
and, as the Tree House was not large 
enough for them both to lie down in very 
comfortably, they had many a fight over 
it. Finally, Tommy went away one night 
and found another hollow tree all for him- 



68 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


self. Bobby didn’t care at all. This, his 
first winter on Round-Top, was great fun 
for the little cat, now almost grown up. 
He loved to hunt in the crisp, sparkling 
nights. When it became so cold that the 
moon gleamed green on the glistening 
hillsides and the North Wind blew the 
light snow in swirls and eddies across the 
icy crust, Bobby delighted in taking long 
trips over the mountain just for pure joy. 
His thick coat kept him just as warm as a 
cat needed to be and he was such a suc¬ 
cessful hunter that the hunger-ache never 
bothered him all that winter I 




CHAPTER VI 

bobby’s fight with the stranger lynx 

Then, again, Spring swept over old 

Round-Top, melting the long icicles that 

hung from the rocks and calling out all 

the buds and blossoms. Bobby was a 

beautiful and almost full-grown lynx. 

He could send such a shrill, piercing cry 

through the forest that it even made 

shivers run over old Grandfather Black 

Bear! No lynx that had ever lived on 

Round-Top could scream as wildly as that 

and Grandfather Black Bear stood up 

and measured himself on a giant pine, to 

be sure that he was as tall as ever and that 

his claws were still sharp enough to rip 

chunks out of the bark. Then He went 

on hunting sweet, tender roots and grubs. 

69 


70 BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 


He had been asleep all winter and had 
eaten nothing, so that he was very thin; 
also, he was exceedingly hungry and those 
roots surely did taste delicious to Grand¬ 
father Black Bear. So he decided to go 
right on hunting grubs and pay no atten¬ 
tion to Bobby-cat Lynx. 

While Grandfather Black Bear was 
measuring himself upon the top of old 
Round-Top, that was exactly what Bobby 
was doing down by the Hollow Tree 
House. Low down on its rough, old 
bark, were the marks that he and Tommy 
had made when they had first scratched 
their sharp, little claws on the tree. That 
was so long ago that Bobby had forgotten 
all about it and as he stood up against the 
tall pine, it did not seem possible that he 
had ever made those marks so near the 
foot of the tree. For,—Bobby’s sturdy 
back legs (higher than his front ones) 
measured almost nineteen inches high and 





Bobby Lynx was nearly grown up and he wore heavy, 
grayish whiskers on the sides of his jaws. Page 71. 








BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 71 


his thick, grey-coated body,—just a 
bunch of muscles,—was over three feet 
long. As he stood up against the tree and 
stretched out his silvery claws, they were 
almost two inches long! Like a vise, they 
closed on the tough bark of the tree, 
crunching right through it and making 
long, jagged tears almost five feet from 
the ground! 

Bobby-cat was nearly grown up and he 
wore heavy, greyish whiskers on the sides 
of his jaws, which really gave him a very 
funny appearance, as if his heavy face, 
with its wicked - looking teeth, were 

framed in a grey frame with two sharply- 

» 

tufted ears at the top of the frame. None 
of the animals on Round-Top thought 
him at all funny , however. They thought 
he was the fiercest-looking young warrior 
they had ever seen and they fled as fast 
as they could go whenever the wind told 
them that he was anywhere near them! 




72 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


And that brought about a condition of 
things that was almost the end of poor 
Bobby! Everything was so very much 
afraid of him and all the little animals 
just seemed to have grown so very wise 
that they did not do one foolish thing nor 
come near enough for him to spring on 
them! 

Mollie Rabbit had a new familv of 
babies in the Hollow Spruce Tree House 
and Mrs. Woodchuck had a fine new 
family in her snug burrow, while there 
were so many new baby field-mice that 
it was all their poor parents could do to 
get enough for them to eat! But, never¬ 
theless, Bobby could not get one,—not 
one! Jimmy Weasel’s numerous rela¬ 
tives were so busily engaged in robbing 
birds’ nests and squirrels’ homes that they 
were hardly on the ground long enough 
for hungry Bobby to get a smell of them! 
Oh,—how hungry he was, for try as he 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 73 


might, he could not get one thing for 
breakfast nor for supper, either! He even 
broke the rule with which his mother had 
purred him to sleep and he actually went 
hunting in the daytime. Not a bit of 
good did it do him, however, for a little 
field-mouse caught sight of him and ran 
chattering away to warn all her family 
and the sweet, summer wind carried the 
scent of him to all the other Forest-peo- 
ple. 

That night Bobby lay stretched out on 
the big beech limb where he had crouched 
so many times and the hunger-ache in his 
stomach made him cross and ugly. Every 
little while, his cruel teeth would snap 
angrily together as he waited for some¬ 
thing to come down the old runway un¬ 
derneath the tree. So hungry was he, that 
he would have attacked even Grand¬ 
father Black Bear himself had he come 
that way! His thick, stubby tail twitched 




74 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


angrily as the pain in his stomach grew 
keener and keener and then,—he stiff¬ 
ened,—scarcely breathing as he caught 
sight of a dark object slinking along the 
path. Not a whisker moved as he 
crouched ready for a spring. Then anger 
flamed through him and over him, for the 
animal underneath him was another lynx 
hunting! Bobby was furious! Didn’t he 
know that this was Bobby’s hunting 
ground? How dared he come here and 
try to get the breakfast that Bobby hoped 
to have for himself! Bobby never stopped 
to see that this was an older and more 
powerful lynx than he was! 

Mad with rage, he just gave a mighty 
spring that carried him down like a shot 
right onto the back of the other lynx. 
As he landed, he tore viciously with all 
of his terrible claws and, for just one 
moment, the other lvnx seemed crushed to 
the earth as Bobby ripped and clawed,—* 



BOBBY LYNX OF EOUND-TOP 75 


but only for a moment. Rolling over 
with a powerful twist of his huge, grey 
body, the Stranger Lynx managed to 
throw Bobby off and, with a snarl of pain 
and rage, he struck. 

There were long tears now in Bobby’s 
grey coat and places where the fur was no 
longer grey but a deep, deep red. Over 
and over they rolled, a snarling, biting, 
vicious bunch of tearing teeth and ripping 
claws. Spitting and biting, uttering sharp 
snarls of rage, they rolled down the hill, 
bumping into trees and brush, which 
stopped them only long enough to let them 
get their breath and then spring back at 
one another, their cruel claws ripping and 
tearing viciously. Poor Bobby’s legs be¬ 
gan to tremble; the slashes he gave with 
his sturdy forepaws no longer tore the 
Stranger Lynx so badly. Bobby was 
fighting a losing fight and he knew it! 
His heart, that at first had throbbed with 



76 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


rage at this new lynx, now throbbed with 
fear. His snarls that had been snarls of 
anger, seemed now to hold a whimper as 
if he knew that the Stranger Lynx was 
getting the better of him. 

Bobby wanted to stop fighting; he 
would have liked to run if he had dared, 
but well he knew that his legs could not 
carry him far and that the stranger would 
pounce on him like a cat on a mouse. 
No,—he must go on fighting. Half 
blinded by pain and his smarting wounds, 
he once more struck out viciously with 
both forepaws. He caught the old lynx 
off guard and ripped his face from crown 
to muzzle and then they clinched once 
more,—a fighting mass of fur and claws, 
that again rolled down the hill. Hitting 
against trees, biting and clawing, they 
rolled right to the top of the rock where 
once Mother Lynx had watched Jimmy 
Weasel. 




'ine btranger-Lynx had slipped, lost his balance and 
had fallen into the swamp below. Page 77. 







BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 77 


Bobby knew that he was near the dear 
old Hollow Tree House,—if only he 
could reach it! Both he and the 
Stranger Lynx had paused an instant for 
breath,—the big Lynx poised defensively 
right on the very edge of the rock. Bobby 
knew he could never reach his safe, warm 
nest,—he must go on fighting to the end 
and so, once more he sprang at the big 
Lynx, striking with all his fast-wanipg 
strength. 

As the Stranger Lynx gathered him¬ 
self together to meet the blow, his hind 
feet slipped off of the edge of the rock,— 
and, almost before he knew what had 
happened to him, he had slipped, lost his 
balance and fallen right down into the 
swamp below! Without wasting one in¬ 
stant, Bobby turned to run,—not very 
fast, but as fast as he could. If only he 
could reach the back-door of the Hollow 
Tree House before the Stranger Lynx 




78 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


could climb back up and catch him! 
Whimpering,—his legs that he had be¬ 
lieved so stout and sturdy, wobbling un¬ 
der him, he half-ran, half-crawled to the 
small hole at the rear of the cave. Pain¬ 
fully he wriggled through it to drop, safe 
at last, like a little dead cat, on the soft, 
friendly leaves! 

It was very nearly the end of Bobby! 
His paws that had so proudly clawed 
their mark on the Hollow Spruce, were 
now bloody and swollen and his left 
fore-leg had been so badly torn that the 
bones showed right through the mangled 
skin. Bobby’s eyes were fast swelling 
shut, while the blood dripped from the 
torn and slashed grey coat. Poor Bobby 
knew that he was a badly hurt little cat, 
but he did not know that, young as he 
was, he had almost killed the other 
lynx,—the largest and wisest old lynx on 
the mountains! Frightened as he was. 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 79 


Bobby could not know that the other lynx 
was even more badly scared, for never had 
he been so badly slashed and torn before! 
The Stranger Lynx was even now licking 
his wounds down in the marsh, so badly 
hurt that it was all he could do to creep 
and crawl away to his home on the other 
side of the Ridge! And he was very glad 
and thankful that this bold, young war¬ 
rior lynx of Round-Top had not pounced 
down on him and made an end of him as 
he lay at the root of the rock! 

It was surely too bad that Bobby could 
not know this as he lay suffering in the 
cave. How long he stayed there, he did 
not know, but twice the sun had peeked in 
through the cracks of the cave and twice 
had the moon sent golden streaks down 
on the floor before he was able to crawl 
out! And he only went then because it 
seemed to him that he had never wanted a 
drink of water so badly in all his life! 



80 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


Painfully he limped and crawled and 
hobbled down to the spring,—not even 
twitching his nose as a poor, silly, little 
rabbit ran right across his path. Not 
even to cure the cruel hunger-ache that 
now seemed to bite him, so keen was it,— 
would he try to use those sore, torn 
muscles of his! Besides,—all he wanted 
was just a deep, deep drink to cool his 
hot throat. He lay by the spring a long, 
long time lapping at the ice cold water 
and then bathing his hot, swollen paws 
and legs with his cool, dripping tongue. 

It would be many a long day before 
Bobby would be himself again and al- 
wavs would his face and sides bear the 
scars of his fierce battle. It was a very 
lucky thing for poor Bobby that he and 
all the other members of the Lynx family 
had been made by Mother Nature so that 
they could go longer without food than 
almost any other animal on Round-Top! 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 81 


This fact stood him in good stead, now, 
when he was too helpless to pounce on 
even a tiny field-mouse, and so he did not 
starve to death as most animals would 
have done. Instead, he just became so 
lean and gaunt and so thin that he looked 
more like a timber wolf than a lynx. Day 
by day and little by little, the wounds 
gradually healed. Once more, he could 
walk without limping and could climb his 
beloved beech tree. He even grew so 
well that he again sent his piercing 
screams through the woodlands, scaring 
Renny Fox and the weasels into leaving 
some of their breakfasts for him to eat. 

In this way, he managed to get enough 
to keep him alive and each day he grew 
stronger and stronger. It was not until 
it was again time for a new, winter coat, 
however, that the long slashes and 
scratches were partly covered up. By 
that time, it was again the season of the 



82 BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 


Harvest Moon, when old King Winter 
would march back to Round-Top. 

Bobby rapidly grew stronger and fatter 
and his new coat was beautiful to look at. 
When he again stood up to make his mark 
on the Hollow Tree House, he was a full- 
grown lynx,—the largest lynx that the 
little Forest-people had ever seen! 



CHAPTER VII 


THE ENEMY BOBBY COULD NOT CONQUEK 

Bobby was so big and wise now that he 
knew all of the forest rules and the scent 
of every animal on Round-Top. He had 
only to get a whiff of Mollie Rabbit or 
Mrs. Woodchuck or a porcupine to know 
at once what animal it was. The wind 
told him all the forest secrets. 

The wind is the friend of all the little 

Forest-people and its lessons are among 

the very first they have to learn. It does 

not take them long to learn these, for 

dangers make very good teachers and the 

little Forest-folk have countless dangers 

all about them all the time. So they very 

quickly learn to keep the wind blowing 

toward them to bring them secrets and 

§3 


84 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


not from them to carry tales about them. 
And Bobby had learned this lesson very 
well and so had the deer and the fox and 
the bear. The skunk family didn’t care 
very much about this law or any other 
wood-law, as all the animals are glad to 
let the skunks very much alone. 

But Mollie Rabbit and all her little 
children had to learn it very well and all 
the other Forest-laws, too, for it seems as 
if most all the animals like to have Mollie 
or some of her family for a meal. So 
when, one morning, Mollie went hopping 
up the ravine on Round-Top, looking for 
some juicy twigs that she knew of, she 
was very careful to obey all the Forest- 
laws she knew. 

The ravine on Round-Top in winter is 
one of the most beautiful sights one could 
wish to see! A small stream, that is fed 
by many hundreds of large springs on 
top of the mountain, has cut this ravine 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 85 


down the steep mountainside, forming 
very high banks of rocks, at the top of 
which the pines and the beech trees and 
the maples grow so close together that the 
ravine always seems dark and mysterious. 

The stream, though narrow, is deep and 
as it has dashed down the steep hillside, it 
has formed a series of beautiful cascades 
one right below another. Old King 
Winter had seen these waterfalls and 
knew just how beautiful he and Jack 
Frost could make them. They had 
worked together for several bitterly cold 
days and nights and now, as Mollie 
hopped up the ravine,—it was like Fairy¬ 
land ! All the spray that the water threw 
over the branches and twigs of the trees 
and bushes, Jack Frost had turned into 
glittering silver, so that each small bush 
looked like a little brown soldier, carry¬ 
ing hundreds of shining spears. Then 
Jack had caught each drop of water as it 



86 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


plunged over the falls and had frozen 
them all together into great long icicles 
two or three feet wide. There they hung 
right from the edge of each rocky ledge 
and then Jack froze the little creek itself 
all up so that it could not move an inch! 

This morning, the sun had come out 
and such a sight as Mollie beheld! The 
long sheets of frozen water and the huge 
icicles glittered and shone like gold and 
silver and diamonds. Every spray-cov¬ 
ered blade of grass, each little twig, 
sparkled and gleamed as if all the jewels 
in the world had been poured into this 
rocky gorge. Up and up,—as far as 
Mollie could see, were the glittering 
things,—clear to the top of the mountain, 
where some big pines swept their long, 
green arms down and covered it up. 
Mollie was puzzled. She had never seen 
the ravine look like this and she hopped 
along very cautiously and very much puz- 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 87 


zled,—her little feet sliding every now 
and then on the gleaming ice. 

Now,—Mollie was sure that she had 
seen some delicious roots sticking out of 
these banks but she could not find them. 
So she hopped along, sniffing and smell¬ 
ing and listening to what the wind was 
trying to tell her and farther and farther 
up the ravine she went. Now,—this was 
a very dangerous thing for a little rabbit 
to do, for she was in plain sight on the 
white, gleaming ice and, if any enemy 
happened to spy her,—what chance would 
she have in this icy, narrow gorge! But 
the wind only brought sweet smells of 
pine and fir and so Mollie hopped along. 
And then, in the very steepest part of the 
ravine, right near the edge of the widest, 
highest waterfall of all, she smelled some 
delicious roots that, by some chance, had 
not been covered with ice. 

It made Mollie dizzy to look back down 






88 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


the gorge. Somehow,—it had not seemed 
so steep as she had climbed up along its 
sides. So she just turned her back on the 
glittering, icy sheet that seemed to drop 
right down to the foot of the mountain 
and began to eat the sweet roots. Oh, 
how good they tasted and how pleasant 
the sun felt on her back. Every few 
moments she sat up and sniffed and 
smelled, but there was no danger smell 
and she went on with her breakfast. 

If only the wind could have blown the 
other way for even just a moment, Mollie 
would have read a far different message 
and it would have told her little nose that 
danger was very close by! Bobby Lynx 
was also near the beautiful ravine that 
morning. He had been hunting all night 
and, as he came to the gorge in the early 
dawn, its stillness and icy whiteness had 
puzzled him a little. Until he could just 
decide whether everything was all right, 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 89 


he Had quickly climbed a grey beech tree 
and now, as Mollie was eating her break¬ 
fast, he was watching her. 

Stretched out on a large arm that hung 
high over the gorge, he looked like a part 
of the tree itself. Slowly and cautiously, 
he drew himself together for a spring. 
So slowly did he move, so quietly, that 
Mollie’s sharp eyes caught not the least 
movement at all. Bobby had, indeed, 
grown very wise and he knew exactly how 
slowly he must move so as not to let 
Mollie know he was there. One by one, 
the powerful muscles drew together until, 
just as Mollie bent down for a fresh 
nibble, Bobby was ready to spring! 
Oh,—but he was beautiful and he seemed 
to know it and his face, with its heavy 
whiskers, looked very proud and fierce 
as he gathered himself together and leaped 
out and down! 

Now Bobby was wise and knew all the 





90 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


Forest-laws and he knew about snow and 
ice and just how slippery it was for a big 
cat to walk on. But he had such power¬ 
ful, tearing claws that he had only to 
spread them out and drive them in and 
even the hardest ice had to splinter be¬ 
neath them. And so, as he leaped, he 
had no fear of anything happening to 
him! But there were a few things that 
even he did not know. And he thought 
of what was going to happen to Mol- 
lie and what a toothsome breakfast he 
would have before he crept home to sleep 
in the Hollow Tree House. 

Down he dropped, like a big, grey 
stone! Somehow,—Mollie saw him al¬ 
most as he was upon her! With a shrill, 
little squeak, she half-jumped, half-slid 
backward at the exact instant the big 
claws struck the very spot where she had 
been. Down Mollie slid, straight down 
the glittering icicles, falling at last, half- 




BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND TOP 91 


stunned, to a small ledge far below. But, 
fortunately for Mollie, she was so little 
and so light, that the fall did not hurt her 
and, in an instant, she was darting up the 
bank and bounding and bouncing home 
through the pine forest. 

But Bobby! Oh,—poor Bobby! He 
was about to learn another lesson this 
morning and it would be a very hard one. 
Mollie had been much nearer the brink 
of the falls than Bobby had realized. As 
he struck, his powerful claws dug in the 
ice, but the force with which he landed 
swung his heavy body right over the edge. 
Dig in as best he could, he felt himself 
slipping—slipping—slipping! 

Snarling with rage because here was 
something that was trying to conquer him, 
he ripped long furrows in the brittle sur¬ 
face with his forepaws, while his powerful 
back legs kicked and pushed against the 
smooth, icy slope over which he hung. 



92 BOBBY LYNX OP BOUND-TOP 


Try as he might, he could not pull himself 
up. Slowly the weight of his heavy body 
tore his foreclaws through the ice until, 
with a wild cry of fright and rage, he 
shot backward down the icy incline, claw¬ 
ing and scratching vainly at the smooth, 
shining ice. The small ledge that had 
saved Mollie only grazed Bobby’s side, 
and over it he shot, faster and faster— 
down—down until stopped by a big rock 
that jutted out into the stream far below. 

It just seemed to Bobby as if the big, 
grey rock rose right up and struck him 
and there he lay! 

Poor Bobby! Renny Fox, trotting 
along the farther bank, stopped and 
looked across the gorge at him. But 
Bobby did not see him, for he had hit the 
rock so hard that he was stunned and 
dazed. He lay with one foot doubled up 
under him, afraid to move on this treach¬ 
erous surface, not daring even to try to 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 93 


get his leg out from under him, although 
it pained and hurt him badly. He laid 
perfectly still for a long time and then he 
braced himself against the rock and tried 
to get up. Each time his feet slipped on 
the ice and he fell back, hurting his leg 
more and more. 

Poor Bobby was frightened! This 
gleaming, white stuff was an enemy he 
did not know how to fight. ITis powerful 
claws that always tore his other enemies 
to pieces, had no effect on this smooth, icy 
foe. Then, as his breath and courage re¬ 
turned, he clung savagely to the rock with 
his strong right arm and managed to drag 
himself to his feet. But only three of 
them could be used,—the fourth was so 
badly sprained that Bobby whimpered 
with pain as he tried to stand on it. 
Slowly and carefully he turned around, 
keeping close to the rock for fear he might 
begin to slide again. Then, with slipping, 



94 BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 


halting steps he managed to reach the 
bank! It, too, was icy but the rocks and 
tree-roots gave him foothold and he 
slowly climbed up, giving sharp yelps of 
pain every time he forgot and tried to use 
his strained foot! 

As he reached the top of the high bank, 
he turned and looked back up the glitter¬ 
ing, icy gorge. Then he gave a piercing 
scream of rage and defiance and limped 
off through the pine forest to the dear, 
old Hollow Tree House. He had no 
breakfast that morning, nor for several 
mornings until the swelling and pain had 
left his foot; and never, never would he 
forget this enemy that he,—the wisest 
lynx on Round-Top, had failed to con¬ 
quer! 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE WORST NIGHT IN BOBBY’S LIFE 


Many of the little Woodland Folk had 
left Round-Top forever,—driven away 
by the hunters from the valley settle¬ 
ments, who came to the dear, old Hill 
with the smoke-smell and the man-smell 
that Bobby hated so fiercely. Once, as he 
crept home to the PIollow Tree House, he 
had seen something bright and glistening 
lying in the old runway. Bobby stopped 
and sniffed and, as the keen, winter wind 
blew toward him, the Glittering Thing 
smelled of man! With a savage snarl, 
Bobby leaped away from it,—walking 
around and around it in a wide circle, 
finally leaving it there as he went, growl¬ 
ing and bristling, to his cave. Day after 

95 



96 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


clay, the Thing,—a hunter’s knife, lay in 
the path and, day after day, Bobby sniffed 
and snarled at it, but not once would he 
touch it. Not even when the snow had 
rusted it and the wind and rain had all 
but robbed it of the man-smell, would he 
go near it. Bobby had learned the man- 
lesson too well to let even the well-known 
curiosity of his cat-nature make him for¬ 
get. 

And then came the night that was the 
very worst time in all Bobby’s life,— 
worse than even that awful morning when 
he had first smelled the man-smell! Food 
was getting scarce on Round-Top and be¬ 
sides, Bobby was growing very tired of 
the old paths and of the Hollow Tree 
House. He liked to go for long prowls 
and hunts over on the Ridge and even 
though the winter wind frequently 
brought him the hated man-smell, it was 
so faint and far-off that he knew it did not 





BOBBY LYNX OF EOUND-TOP 97 


spell danger for him,—at least he thought 
it didn’t. 

There was good hunting over on the 
Ridge and many a delicious meal had 
Bobby managed to get as he had prowled 
along its rocky sides. The rabbits of the 
Ridge had not been as well-trained as had 
Mollie Rabbit’s numerous children and 
they broke all of the rules their mothers 
had taught them. One night, as Bobby 
trailed along the Ridge, he came to a little 
gully opening between some grey-brown 
beech trees and there, in plain sight on the 
snow were little tell-tale tracks that told 
of a foolish little rabbit which had dis¬ 
obeyed her mother and had gone out in 
the deep snow. Lippity—lippity—they 
hopped along and Bobby, reading them 
as plainly as you can read your A B C’s, 
padded softly after. Little Sallie Rabbit 
had been told again and again not to wan¬ 
der from her Burrow-house when there 




98 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


was a deep, fluffy snow on the ground be¬ 
cause she sank in so deeply in such a snow 
that she left a very, very broad trail be¬ 
hind her for any of her enemies to follow 
and because she could not hop fast enough 
in such a snow to escape any danger. 

But the night wind had brought such 
delicious smells of clover from the big 
stores of hay in the barns in the settle¬ 
ment and poor, foolish Sallie simply 
could not resist them. Farther and 
farther away she went from the warm, 
safe Burrow-house, and softly coming 
after her was Bobby Lynx! Now Sallie 
was breaking the rule her mother had 
taught her, but Bobby was breaking the 
rule he had made for himself —never to 
go near the man-settlement, never to 
leave the safety of his beloved Hill or 
Ridge! But the rabbit was such a fat 
rabbit and he was so hungry and he would 
surely catch her before she reached the 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 99 


foot of the Ridge and so,—he went on, 
carefully sniffing at each step. Oh,— 
such a naughty, disobedient rabbit and 
such a foolish Bobby Lynx! As Sallie 
almost reached the foot of the Ridge, the 
wind changed and blew the other way, 
bringing to her wiggling little nose the 
smell of the dreaded enemy slowly com¬ 
ing behind her! 

Sallie knew that she could never out¬ 
run Bobby in the deep, fluffy snow,—all 
she could hope to do was to outwit him. 
Not knowing which way was the best 
way, not knowing just how she would 
manage to fool this wise old enemy com¬ 
ing so swiftly behind her, poor Sallie 
darted to the top of a big rock, leaped 
from it to another one just below and 
from that to a big, hollow log lying half- 
buried in the deep snow. Into it she 
popped. It was her only hope! Not a 
whisker moved, not a hair trembled. 


> ' 
i » 
> > % 




100 BOBBY LYNX OP ROUND-TOP 


Then her body seemed to freeze with fear 
for she felt Bobby leap lightly on to the 
log, right over her head! And then,—oh, 
what had happened! Sallie listened in 
terror, for Bobby Lynx was slashing and 
crashing around in the snow,—every now 
and then bumping on the log right over 
poor little Sallie’s head,—now screeching 
and snarling with pain and rage. 

For an instant Sallie listened, then she 

r 

cautiously stole to the end of the log and 
peeped out. Bobby was not looking at 
her at all, but was biting and fighting 
with something on his forefoot. As Sal¬ 
lie saw her chance to escape, she leaped 
out and away from the log as fast as she 
could, scampering up the rocky slopes 
with longer leaps that she had ever taken 
in all her life before! Not until she was 
safely in the warm Burrow-house did her 
poor heart stop its frightened thump¬ 
ing. 




BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 101 


But Bobby,—poor, foolish Bobby was 
paying heavily for breaking his rule. 
Bobby was caught in a trap that had been 
concealed right by the log. Had the wind 
not been blowing away from the Ridge, he 
would surely have smelled the man-smell 
and never, never would he have gone on 
that log! But here he was, he, the most 
powerful and wisest warrior of the Hill, 
caught in a trap like any foolish, young 
lynx which had never thoroughly learned 
his lessons! Oh,—if only he had not fol¬ 
lowed Sallie Rabbit so far ,—if only he 
had sprung on her when he had first seen 
her trail! Of course he could have easily 
caught her then but, truth to tell, Bobby 
had enjoyed stealing along after her, sure 
that he could get her whenever he wanted 
her and so, like any silly house-cat creep¬ 
ing along after a mouse, he had crept 
after Sallie! 

He was the maddest cat ever seen on 



102 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


the Ridge, madder even than when he 
had fought the Stranger Lynx and he 
pulled and jerked at the trap that held his 
forepaw so firmly. He howled and 
shrieked and yelled. / All thought of the 
Keep-Quiet Rule was gone! No danger 
could be worse than this Thing, which, no 
matter how hard he bit it, would not let 
go! Then he stopped yelling and snarl¬ 
ing and just cried as if he were once more 
only a little, baby lynx in the Hollow 
Tree House. 

The man at the Farm heard him and 
got out of bed,—surely that was not the 
cry of an animal ,—some child must be 
lost on the mountain! Dressing and 
snatching his gun, he called old Shep, 
the watch-dog, and started for the foot of 
the Ridge. The cries could still be heard, 
sobbing, sobbing—now clear—now faint 
and far-off as if some little, lost child 
were wandering farther and farther into 



BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 103 


the lonely woods. The man broke into a 
run! The thought of a child out in the 
deep snow, alone and wandering on the 
mountainside, made him plunge desper¬ 
ately through the deep, clinging snow. 
Fainter and fainter came the cries and the 
man turned helplessly to his dog,— 

“ Go get ’em, Sliep! Hunt ’em out! ” 
At the word, the dog bounded away, the 
bristles rising on his neck. Shep knew 
what his master did not know, that it was 
no child crying up on the Ridge but the 
howl of an animal, and Shep plunged 
fearlessly on to “ hunt ’em out ” just as 
his master had told him to do. 

Bobby’s keen eyes saw him coming long 
before Shep caught the scent of Bobby 
and Bobby cowered in terror! Free from 
this thing that was holding his paw, he 
would make short work of this dog, big as 
he was! But Bobby was not free and he 
tore viciously at the trap on his foot as 



104 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 


the dog came nearer and nearer. Had 
Bobby not been caught in a trap, Shep 
would never have dreamed of attacking 
him, brave and courageous as Shep most 
certainly was! Well did both Shep and 
Bobby know what would happen, then! 
But now,—things were different and,— 
although Bobby knew he could give a 
good account of himself, even trapped as 
he was,—nevertheless, even if he killed 
the dog, it would not free him from this 
Thing on his paw! As he watched the 
dog come bounding on, snarls of rage be¬ 
gan to purr in his throat,—he would just 
have to stay there and fight, knowing that 
it was impossible to escape. 

Then his keen eyes saw something out 
on the Plains that made him give a wild 
snarl of rage and terror and despair,—a 
man was coming across the snow! 
Bobby cowered down by the log just for 
an instant as he realized the hopelessness 



BOBBY LYNX OF ROUND-TOP 105 


of his terrible plight. Then he leaped to 
his feet, again to bite and scratch at the 
Thing that held him, now shaking his paw 
wildly, now tearing at it with his strong 
teeth. 

Now, fortunately for Bobby, the trap 
that had caught him was only a small 
steel one fastened to the log that day by 
a boy who was visiting the Farm and who 
had never dreamed of catching anything 
more than a rabbit in it. Fortunately,— 
oh very fortunately for Bobby, the trap 
had only caught on part of his paw and, 
almost as Shep reached the rocky hillside, 
the trap was half-torn, half-slipped off of 
Bobby’s paw! A final wrench by Bobby 
that hurt his paw cruelly and then,—he 
was free! With a piercing scream that 
sounded like a yell of defiance, he darted 
up the rocky slopes of the Ridge, not 
minding the pain of his torn paw at all, 
—leaping lightly from rock to rock, 



106 BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 


springing across the gullies, bounding 
through the snow like a huge, bouncing 
ball. Never had he leaped and bounded 
as he did that night and never, never had 
the crest of the Ridge seemed such a de¬ 
sirable haven! He had long ago out-dis¬ 
tanced the dog (who was quite glad to 
have him, brave though old Shep most 
certainly was!) and he crawled up a big 
tree, at last, to rest and to examine his 
paw. 

It was not badly hurt,—at least, noth¬ 
ing but what his warm, red tongue would 
soon heal up. Then he slowly and very 
happily resumed his journey to the safe 
woodland paths and familiar runways of 
old Round-Top. Bobby had learned his 
lesson ,—never again would he venture on 
the Ridge,—and never, never would he 
go so near the settlements again. He 
would stay on Round-Top as long as he 
lived, and, as the winter sun crept up over 



BOBBY LYNX OF KOUND-TOP 107 


the crest of the dear old Hill, Bobby 
climbed into the Hollow Tree House and 
purred himself to sleep. 

Yes, Bobby Lynx had learned his les¬ 
son. But foolish, foolish Mollie Rabbit 
still had hers to learn,—you shall hear 
some day of her most narrow escape. And 
the very wisest and slyest fox on all 
Round-Top — Mother Silver-Tip, — she, 
too, had some lessons still to learn even 
while training her family of foxes. She 
tried so faithfully to teach them,—and 
Blackie took such a lot of teaching,— 
really it will require another whole volume 
to contain all her adventures! You may 
read them in “ Mother Fox of Round- 
Top.” 


the END 





The following pages contain questions 


with space for the answers to be written 





The owner of this book* 


109 







































V 
































OF WHAT DOMESTIC ANIMAL DOES 
BOBBY MAKE YOU THINK? 


WHAT KIND OF A HOUSE DID MOTHER 
LYNX MAKE? 







111 
























WHY DID THE HOME OF THE LYNX 
HAVE A BACK DOOB! 
















WHY DID BOBBY AND TOMMY HAVE TO 
LEARN THE KEEP-QUIET RULE t 






••«* *• a•••«•■ 




112 


















WHY DO MOST CATS SLEEP DURING 
THE DAY AND HUNT AT NIGHT t 


—«f Ml—>MM«—MMMMMMMO —WWMMMWUMMMMMWa 










WHY DID BOBBY HAVE TO LEABN TO 
CLIMB TBEESf 








113 




















WHAT WARNING DID THE WIND CARRY 
TO BOBBY t 



■»»«« »■■ mmmmm 


WHAT COLOR WAS BOBBY’S FUR COAT 
AND WHY WAS THE FUR LONG IN 
WINTER? 


/ 


114 



















WHY DOES THE LYNX HAVE SUCH 
LONG, SHARP CLAWS? 




WHAT FOOD DOES HE LIKE BEST t 


115 
































































































































































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